the real point of global health, which is constantly brought up and then buried under the drumbeat of the aforementioned short-sightedness is how global health is an overall economic boon for all of us.
At the end of the day we live in an ever shrinking complex society where what adversely affects others, sooner or later adversely affects us.
It is not for love of man that insurance companies so quickly boarded the preventive health train to cover well visits. And it is all about profit that major corporations invest millions of dollars in including wellness programs to their employees.
Illness has a personal cost to the individual and his or her family, but also an economic cost to the rest of us. It affects productivity at work, crime rates, and safety net costs.
Emergency rooms as a first line of defense against illness is an absurd allocation of resources. Doctors, nurses, and hospitals don’t work for free. So guess who is paying for all that unnecessary care?
And if you are healthy you are a contributor in so many other ways. My personal medical costs turned out to reach heights I might otherwise have thought extraordinary. Hundreds of thousands of dollars most years, millions over time. At a young age, when our children were in grammar and pre-school, my life was saved through extraordinary means and through the efforts of extraordinary people (I have not yet had the opportunity to detail this episode in my medical odyssey as my blog, lifeunderthecloud.com, is quite new and with all the demanding, newer adventures in medicine I have not yet had the opportunity to adequately chronicle it but promise to as soon as I can).
My children, now in their thirties have grown to be successful, loving contributors to society. I can’t say they would have turned out any different had I not had the medical resources available that I did, and passed a quarter century ago. But statistically, the probability they were destined to be highly contributing productive members of society were significantly diminished.
So what is global health? Just that. Health that benefits all of us globally. Not just the peoplewho are more directly affected by it, but it benefits all of us, rich and poor alike.
I hope I have not come off as preachy because quite the opposite. My point is that global health is selfish. It’s about what benefits the most selfish and selfless alike.
The truth is, we are all intertwined, and what benefits you, benefits me. And what benefits me, benefits you.
Answers & Comments
Answer:
the real point of global health, which is constantly brought up and then buried under the drumbeat of the aforementioned short-sightedness is how global health is an overall economic boon for all of us.
At the end of the day we live in an ever shrinking complex society where what adversely affects others, sooner or later adversely affects us.
It is not for love of man that insurance companies so quickly boarded the preventive health train to cover well visits. And it is all about profit that major corporations invest millions of dollars in including wellness programs to their employees.
Illness has a personal cost to the individual and his or her family, but also an economic cost to the rest of us. It affects productivity at work, crime rates, and safety net costs.
Emergency rooms as a first line of defense against illness is an absurd allocation of resources. Doctors, nurses, and hospitals don’t work for free. So guess who is paying for all that unnecessary care?
And if you are healthy you are a contributor in so many other ways. My personal medical costs turned out to reach heights I might otherwise have thought extraordinary. Hundreds of thousands of dollars most years, millions over time. At a young age, when our children were in grammar and pre-school, my life was saved through extraordinary means and through the efforts of extraordinary people (I have not yet had the opportunity to detail this episode in my medical odyssey as my blog, lifeunderthecloud.com, is quite new and with all the demanding, newer adventures in medicine I have not yet had the opportunity to adequately chronicle it but promise to as soon as I can).
My children, now in their thirties have grown to be successful, loving contributors to society. I can’t say they would have turned out any different had I not had the medical resources available that I did, and passed a quarter century ago. But statistically, the probability they were destined to be highly contributing productive members of society were significantly diminished.
So what is global health? Just that. Health that benefits all of us globally. Not just the peoplewho are more directly affected by it, but it benefits all of us, rich and poor alike.
I hope I have not come off as preachy because quite the opposite. My point is that global health is selfish. It’s about what benefits the most selfish and selfless alike.
The truth is, we are all intertwined, and what benefits you, benefits me. And what benefits me, benefits you.